New solar-powered desalination plant in Algeria
8 December 2010
A desalination plant run by solar power is soon to be constructed in the south of Algeria.
The group SwissINSO announced last week that a sales contract had been signed for its water purification and desalination plant, 100 percent powered by solar energy.
This plant is suited to countries such as Algeria "to cope with their extreme and chronic shortages of clean water", stated Paul de Belay, Vice-president of SwissINSO, in a press release from the company.
It should enter service in April 2011 and will be able to purify up to 100,000 liters of brackish water per day, or 50,000 liters of seawater, into pure drinking water.
The national energy company Sonelgaz is also planning to launch a scheme to develop renewable energies via solar thermal power.
"We are going to build electric power stations in the South, in the regions of Tamanrasset, Adrar and Timimoun, but also in the High Plateaux", stated Noureddine Bouterfa, CEO of the group, in an interview with Algerian radio.